Upholstery padding



y 1937- DEL ROY F. FOWLER UPHOLSTERY PADDING Filed May 24, 1935 Patented May 18, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE 4 Claims.

My invention relates to the construction of upholstery padding adapted for the manufacture of mattresses or for use in upholstery generally and has for its object to provide a padding having 5 at the same time a highdegree of elasticity, durability and softness.

In my former Patent 1.565267, of December 15, 1925, I have described an upholstery pad comprising a multiplicity of thin veils of dry carded sisal fibre disposed upon each other in such manner that the fibres of adjacent veils will run at an angle to each other and held together by stitching. These pads have proved to be ,very satisfactory ,and durable in use but leave something to be desired with regard to softness and in its preferential form my invention consists in building up the-padding of films or thin sheets of the dry carded sisal fibre so arranged or folded in the make-up of the pad that the fibres of 20 adjacent layers will run at an angle to each other and having thin layers or films of dry carded cotton fibre interspaced in the make-up of the padding with the thin layers or films of the sisal fibre layers of the composite pad being held together 25 by stitching formed either by thread or by lengths of fibre carried down into or through the pad by the process known as needling.

In the manufacture of the padding I preferentially build it up in part of a series of com- 30 posite layers made up of a sheet of sisal and a sheet of cotton folded backward and forward it is practicable to obtain the advantage of my" new structure by the substitution of dry carded films of relatively stiff and resilient fibres other than sisal for the films of sisal fibre and by the 45 substitution of interspaced films other than cotton but having the characteristic of greater flexibility and less elasticity from that characterizing the relatively stiff and more elastic fibres of the interspaced layers, thus, in place of using sisal 50 fibres I may use dry carded films of Spanish moss or of Tampico fibre and in place of the films of dry carded cotton fibre I may use films of soft jute or fiax fibre.

While my invention may be carried into ef- 55 feet by interspacing films of the softer and less elastic fibre with all of the films of the stiffer and more elastic fibre, many of the advantages of my invention can be obtained in aconstruction by which the films of softer and less elastic fibre are interspaced with only some of the films 6 of the stiffer and more elastic fibre and for certain purposes, as where the padding is to be used on a support made up of, springs, it isadvantageous that the portion of the padding which lies in contact with the springs should be made 10 up of a number of crossing layers of the stiffer and more elastic fibres without interspa'cing layers of the softer and less elastic fibre and this is desirable even when the composite fibre layers are stitched to a backing, such as burlap.

The bulk of the padding is preferentially made up of the alternate films of the stiffer and more elastic fibre and, of films of the softer and less elastic fibre so that the increased softness of the pad will be fully availed of on those portions of the pad which are the more adjacent to the body resting upon the pad.

My improved pad-ding made up as described is distinctly softer'than padding made up entirely of films of the stiffer and more elastic fibres. and

is free from the liability in padding made up chiefly of a softer fibre, such as cotton, of the balling up of the fibre or its felting together in such a way as to eliminate the desirable quality of elasticity.

While my padding can, of course, be produced in inany ways, it is customary to manufacture the padding in continuous belts or webs from which pads of any desired shape and size can be cut and the webs of dry carded fibre are ordinarily disposed in the web or belting in veils crossing each other at an angle and running from side to side of the web or belt, the film or sheet as it comes from the carding machine may be 40 folded backward and forward upon itself at such an angle as to bring about the formation of a layer of twice the thickness of the film, or, if a less angle is used for the folding of the film,

the layer may have in part a thickness of more 5 than two films, while, if a greater angle is used in the fol-ding, the layer will have in part a thickness of only one film. In the building up of the padding from films or sheets of sisal or its equivalent with alternating films or sheets of cotton or its equivalent, I preferentially lay down simultaneously a film or sheet of sisal and a film or sheet of cotton so that a. composite sheet, so to speak, is folded backward and forward upon itself, this method of manufacture resulting, I

believe, in the most satisfactory embodiment of my invention.

For a better understanding of my invention, I would refer to the drawing in which Figure 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic view of the layer of cotton or like relatively'softer and less elastic fibre.

Figure 2 is a similar view of a film made up of sisal or other relatively stiff and more elastic fibre.

Figure 3 is a plan view showing how a sheet of sisal is folded upon itself in the make-up of the padding.

Figure 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, showing the folding of a composite sheet made up of a veil of sisal and a veil of cotton and folded in the same way as indicated in Fig. 3.

Figure 5 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4, and

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a portion of my improved padding, the longitudinal section being taken as on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4, one or more upper layers being removed or cut away at the right hand end of the view to show the disposition of the fibres in underlying layers.

A indicates the films made up of sisal or the like stiffer and more elastic fibre; B, the film made up of cotton or similar softer and less elastic fibres and C the lines of stitching.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. Upholstery padding having the featurescalled for in claim 2, further characterized in that one side of the padding is made up of multiple veils of dry carded relatively stifl and resilient fibres without intervening veils of the more flexible and less elastic fibre.

2. Upholstery padding comprising a multiplicity of thin veils of dry carded relatively stiff and resilient fibres interspaced with a multiplicity of veils of a dry carded fibre of a more fiexible and less elastic nature, each veil in the structure of the padding being so disposed therein as to have overlapping portions in which the fibres will lie at an angle to each other and said veils of the more flexible and less elastic fibre being of substantially the same breadth as those of the stififer and more elastic fibre and so disposed in the make-up of the padding that each veil of the morefiexible and less elastic fibre will, in effect, form abacking for a veil of the stifi'er and more elastic fibre throughout substantially the entire breadth of the veil of the stiifer and more elastic fibre.

3. Upholstery padding comprising'a multiplicity of thin veils of dry carded sisal fibres interspaced with a multiplicity of veils of a dry carded cotton fibre, each veil in the structure of the padding being so disposed therein as to have overlapping portions in*which the fibres will heat an angle to each other and said veils of cotton fibre being of substantially the same breadth as those of the. sisal fibre and so disposed in the make-up of the padding that each veil of the cotton fibre will, in effect, form a backing for a veil of the sisal fibre throughout substantially the entire breadth of the veil of the sisal fibre.

4. Upholstery padding having the constructive features called for in claim 2, in which the folded veils are held together by stitching.

DEL ROY F. FOWLER. 

